


X Marks the Spot

by pancakelover



Category: Fantastic Four, Marvel (Comics), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Ancient Artifact, Crack Team, Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Protective Siblings, Slow Burn, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-06-25 22:09:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19754752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pancakelover/pseuds/pancakelover
Summary: After finding a mysterious artifact, Johnny Storm and Peter Parker form a crack team to try and uncover the secrets held within. But dangerous villains and clashes within the team complicate the situation far beyond what Johnny had first envisioned when he first discovered the artifact.However, the mystery behind the artifact isn't the only thing waiting to be uncovered. When hidden feelings start to bubble to the surface, will the team be able to push through and finish their task, or will they crack under all the pressure?





	1. The Adventure Begins

Johnny Storm would never admit it, especially within earshot of Sue, but he knew that he could be reckless at times. And as he watched the museum burning down around him, priceless paintings and exhibits vanishing in the flames, he realized that he had royally fucked up.

It started off simple enough, take out some stray doom-bots that were heading towards the museum. But once the battle continued inside, all it took was one stray fireball near an extremely flammable carpet and suddenly everything went to shit. Flames and doom-bots panicked all the civilians inside, and with Johnny being fully flamed on, he had no control in calming them down. Johnny quickly took care of the few remaining doom-bots, but not before the fire had spread and started to bring down the building. Most of the civilians had found an exit before they got blocked, but he was certain he could still hear a young scream somewhere amongst the flames.

“Hey! Flamebrain!” The shout rung out over the chaos, before a web shot through the air, taking down a doom-bot that had nearly snuck up behind Johnny. Johnny snapped towards the direction it came from to see Spiderman dodging burning rubble as he scrambled to ensure the rest of the civilians were able to escape. “Felt like you needed a hand.”

Peter zeroed in on a young boy crying out, hiding behind the collapsed skeleton of a Triceratops, and quickly hoisted him up over his shoulder, scanning for an exit route. Johnny blasted through the roof, leaving a gaping hole, giving Peter an easier exit to swing out of.

“Nice to see you made it Spidey, as usual arriving after I’ve done all the heavy lifting.”

Peter zipped past Johnny, no time for his usual quip back as the boy over his shoulder was coughing heavily from inhaled smoke. Peter carried him to the ground, towards the amassing crowd of onlookers watching in terror. A woman, who Peter assumed was the boy’s mother, rushed forwards crying, shouting thanks before pulling the boy away from him and carrying him off to the emergency medical officers that had started to arrive.

Johnny landed down next to Peter, surveying the damage he caused.

“Thanks for the help in there Spid – “

“Johnny you need to go,” Peter looked directly into Johnny’s eyes.

Johnny was taken aback by the Peter’s sudden bluntness. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“I can already hear the sirens from the fire trucks on their way. You’re not gonna be very popular with them right now.”

Sure enough, Johnny could start to hear echoes of sirens in the distance, closing in on the museum.

“Meet me at the usual place tonight at 10, and we can talk then. But right now, you need to leave. I’ll stick around for the usual damage control. Let’s see Jameson try and spin ‘Spiderman helps save innocents from museum fire’ into a damaging news headline.”

Johnny briefly hesitated, before nodding at Peter and flying off, leaving the chaotic scene behind him. He could already hear Sue’s lecture in his mind, one that she was sure to deliver when he returned to the Baxter Building.

As he was going, he spotted a damaged doom-bot crawling away from the museum. Its lower half had been blown off presumably by either one of Johnny’s blasts or some falling rubble, leaving just its upper torso, arms and head intact.

Johnny figured he should probably finish the job, maybe even take it back to Reed to examine. It wouldn’t be enough to stop Sue getting angry, but might be enough to get Reed distracted enough to not back her up.

Landing down next to the crawling doom-bot, Johnny noticed it was only dragging itself away with one of its arms, the other was protectively clutching something in its hand. It was also so single-mindedly focused on its task that it didn’t even bother to look at Johnny when he landed.

 _That’s weird_ , Johnny thought. _Usually doom-bots fight to the very end, no matter how damaged they are._

Johnny could see caught a glimpse of the object being carried in the doom-bots hand, the smooth metallic surface of the object shining under the light of his flames.

_Whatever that thing is must be pretty damn important to Doom if he’s programmed his bots to be this determined to get it back to him._

In that moment, Johnny had an incredible idea. He blasted the doom-bots head off, completely destroying it, then took the object from its now useless hand, observing his new find.

+

Johnny had expected to be chewed out by Sue, but by Peter? He wasn’t ready for that to happen.

By the time he arrived at the top of the Statue of Liberty that night, Peter had already made himself comfortable. He was lying on his back looking up at the night sky, the light from the stars and moon illuminating his face. Two hotdogs lay down beside him, one already half eaten.

The scene immediately put Johnny at ease, the pent-up frustration from his earlier talk with Sue releasing, as Johnny wondered how he got so lucky to have Pete as his best friend. But that feeling of ease ceased as soon as Peter noticed he was there, and the look of disappointment on his face was so abundantly clear that Johnny wanted to immediately fly off somewhere else, to be anywhere but near the look Peter was giving him.

If it was anyone else, he would have done just that. But it was Pete, so instead he laid down next to him, closed his eyes and mentally prepared himself for whatever Pete was going to say.

A few seconds passed before Johnny felt something placed on his chest.

He opened his eyes to see the untouched hotdog sat upon it, inviting him to dig in.

He turned his head towards Peter, who had returned to looking up at the stars, seemingly deep in thought.

Johnny inched closer to Peter, close enough for their shoulders to be touching, and joined him in looking up at the night sky.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just eating their hotdogs and looking at the stars. Johnny had finally relaxed, and was enjoying lying there with his friend when Peter decided to say something.

“Johnny? You know you’re my best mate yeah?” Peter said softly, turning to look at Johnny for the first time since he laid down.

“I better be,” Johnny nodded back. “Otherwise it’d be pretty awkward when I say you’re mine too.”

Pete let out a small laugh, shaking his head before once again looking at Johnny.

“Good. Then listen to me when I tell you to be more careful okay?”

“I’m always careful,” Johnny forced out a laugh, trying to shrug off Peter’s words.

“Johnny…” Peter stopped, then looked Johnny straight in the eyes, “I’m being serious. Do you know how many times this month I’ve had to help you out of incredibly dangerous situations?”

“Pete, we’re superhe-”

“I know what we are Johnny, and that what we do has risks. But that doesn’t mean I should be saving you from a reckless situation you’ve made for yourself three times in the past few weeks.”

 _Shit, is this really the third time this month he’s saved me_ , Johnny thought. _Have I really needed his help that much?_

“Trust me, I’ve had many people I care about tell this to me too. MJ, Aunt May, Harry, all of them have told me in the past that I shouldn’t be throwing myself in danger, even if it’s with good intentions.”

Johnny stayed silent, preferring to just listen to what Peter was saying.

“And I’ve never really listened to them. So, if me, a person known for being reckless with my life is telling you to be more careful. Then maybe you should consider that advice.”

Johnny’s silence continued, the guilt that he had made Pete worried enough to need to talk to him about this started to eat at him.

“You know I’ll never leave you hanging Johnny, but – “

“There shouldn’t be any buts at the end of the sentence Pete.” Johnny looked over at Peter with a sad smile. “We have each other’s backs yeah?”

“Yes Johnny, of course, but – “

“Then that’s all there is to it Pete.”

Johnny pulled Peter in for a hug before Peter could counter. Reluctantly, Peter hugged him back, not able to resist embracing the comforting warmth of Johnny’s body. He closed his eyes and sighed, sinking into the easy comfort of Johnny Storm.

“Okay Johnny, you’re right. But please do be more careful.”

They stayed like that for a few seconds, both just enjoying the comfort that they gave to each other.

Johnny slowly pulled away.

“We both should probably head home and get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Peter turned his head away, trying to hide the disappointment. It didn’t escape Peter’s notice that Johnny had avoided actually promising to be more careful.

“Tomorrow though, swing by the Baxter building when you’re free,” Johnny said with a beaming smile. “There’s something I need to show you.”

+

“What the hell is this thing?” Peter marveled at the sight of the artifact in front of him. It was an oval shaped ball of silver, about the size of his fist, smoothed to perfection. A few black engravings encircled it, and were emitting a dull black glow.

Johnny was perched on the end of his desk, taking in the sight of Peter focused so keenly on this object.

“Absolutely no idea.” That was all Johnny had to contribute on that matter.

“Any clue what it does?”

“Nope again.” Johnny laughed at how focused Peter was on the object. “But that doom-bot I got it from thought it was definitely worth something.”

Peter cocked his head to the side and shot Johnny a quizzical look.

“So, what are we gonna do with it?”

“Bold of you to assume I’m gonna let you in on my amazing discovery Parker.”

Peter raised an eyebrow in Johnny’s direction, then went back to studying the object.

“Well you did kinda invite me here Johnny.”

“Okay, you got me there,” Johnny chuckled before jumping over to Peter, sitting down next to him and throwing his arm over Peter’s shoulder, squishing them close.

“Imagine this,” Johnny stuck his other arm out in front of them, vaguely gesturing ahead in the air. “Johnny Storm and Peter Parker, archaeology extraordinaires.”

Peter could barely contain an eyeroll, and went to butt in, but Johnny kept going.

“Two men, raiding tombs, searching for lost treasure, and kicking ass along the way.”

Peter couldn’t believe it, but Johnny’s attempt at convincing him was at the very least intriguing.

“And that life of amazing adventure, starts with looking into this one, mysterious shiny orb thingy.”

Johnny turned to face Peter, grinning from ear to ear, obviously extremely pleased with his idea. And that was enough to get Peter excited and on board.

“Okay… I’m in.” Peter said, grinning back at Johnny.

“Yes!” Johnny pumped his fist to the sky in victory, “life of adventure here we come!”

“Our first point of call should be to talk to Reed about – “

“No.” Johnny slammed his hands down on the table. “No Reed. Reed means Sue. Sue means Ben. And all of them together means Fantastic Four taking over our discovery. Then kaboom! There goes our fun.” Johnny mimicked an explosion with his hand, as Peter sighed, rolling his eyes at his overdramatic friend.

“Well do you have any better ideas?” Peter raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Neither of us would even know where to start looking into this… um… we don’t even know what it is!”

“C’mon Pete! You must have tons of smart friends, one of which would know something about artifacts and museums!”

Peter thought about it for a moment.

 _There is one person… but, do I really want to involve them in this?_ Peter bit his lip in indecision, before turning to Johnny.

“There might be someone…”

+

Peter was used to being nervous. Even when things were on the upswing, all it took was a small dash of the classic Parker luck to bring it all down again.

As he walked further into the nightclub, neon lights flashing all around him, he certainly felt nervous, almost completely out of his depth.

 _Where’s Johnny when you need him._ Peter couldn’t help but think of how easily Johnny would fit into this place. Dancing, flirting with everyone, practically gliding throughout the club. Whereas Peter could barely move an inch without almost knocking a glass out of someone’s hand.

But he couldn’t bring Johnny here. Not this time.

If there was even a whiff of Johnny Storm in this place, it wouldn’t work.

Peter pushed his way through a tightly packed dancefloor towards the bar, thankful to see an empty seat nearby.

“What do you want?” the bartender asked him. As Peter approached, the bartender’s eyes slowly worked their way up and down Peter’s body.

“Actually, I think I know what you’d like,” he said with a wink. “Something that’s only on the menu for a striking man like yourself.”

Peter froze on the other side of the bar, not quite sure what to do. He wasn’t quite used to such blatant flirting.

“Lost for words?” the bartender continued, leaning forwards on the counter, getting closer to Peter. “Must like what you see.”

Peter could make out the bartenders features pretty clearly in the neon glow of the bar signs. Short blonde hair, slight stubble, a strong jawline. Wearing a tight black v-neck that clearly showed off how toned he was.

He was definitely Peter’s type, and if he was with MJ, which he normally is whenever she forced him out clubbing, she’d be pushing him to get laid. Which as MJ would eloquently put it, hadn’t happened since the dinosaurs went fucking extinct.

“Um…” Peter went to speak, but nothing came out after. Instead a blush started creeping over his face, causing the bartender to let out a small chuckle.

“Lucky for you, I have a question that only needs a one-word answer.” He looked Peter straight in the eyes, oozing sex appeal. “I finish my shift in 30 minutes, wanna come back to mine afterwards? I promise it’ll be worth it.” He raised a cocky eyebrow expectantly.

Peter was about to accept his offer when a familiar female voice rang out next to him. Peter recognized who it was immediately.

“I’ll take a whiskey on the rocks, and a straight orange juice thanks.”

“Not now sweetheart,” the bartender said aggressively in her direction, not taking his eyes off of Peter. “Can’t you see we’re having an important conversation? Ask one of the other bartenders.”

“I said… a whiskey on the rocks, and a straight orange juice. That’s the last time I’m asking nicely,” a hint of menace behind her voice.

“Look girl, you need to - “

As the bartender turned to look at her, he immediately went pale. All the confidence from hitting on Peter drained away as he shrunk back, immediately going to make the drinks. A few seconds later he placed them down in front of her, mumbled an apology and something about them being on the house, then turned back, about to talk to Peter again.

“Go home. Your shift is over for the night,” the woman snapped.

The bartender hesitated, quickly glancing from Peter to the woman, before deciding it was in his best interests to do what she said and run off.

“Really Felicia?” Peter chuckled to himself. “You always had a great sense of timing; I was about to get laid.”

Peter turned to face her.

Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat herself, was sat next to him at the bar, sipping on her whiskey, holding out the orange juice expectantly for Peter to take.

“It’s nice to see you too Pete,” Felicia smiled warmly at him. “And trust me, you didn’t want to go home with Greg. He may be pretty, but there’s not much else going on underneath that.”

“Maybe that’s exactly what I was after,” Peter countered, as he took the orange juice and had a drink.

“You forget how well I know you Pete…” Felicia said softly.

“So, what’s a guy like you doing here all on your own? Or is MJ just around the corner?” Felicia questioned, “Or maybe Johnny Storm? I’ve seen on the news that him and Spidey are partners in fighting crime lately. Figured you two had become best buds again.”

“I could ask you the same thing Felicia. This club isn’t exactly upscale, you’re not going to find anything worth stealing here.”

“You’re right. Nothing worth stealing, but plenty of information to gather. You wouldn’t believe the secrets people let slip after a couple drinks on a night out.”

“Secrets? Like what?” Peter asked skeptically.

“See her?” Felicia nodded towards an intoxicated woman, who was grinding against an even more intoxicated man. “Keeps bragging about her job as a receptionist at an art museum. All I’d need to do is strike up a conversation with her in the bathroom, and suddenly I’d have access codes and extra security information.”

“All hypothetical… of course,” Felicia said with a sly grin, “I wouldn’t dream of robbing that art museum right now. The ancient Greek mythological statue exhibit doesn’t start until August.”

“I see you haven’t changed a bit Felicia.” Peter sighed; slightly disappointed Felicia hadn’t quit the thief life. But it made it easier to ask her what he needed to.

“If you say so Pete. Anyways you never answered my question. Why are you here? I’m sure you didn’t come just to catch up with your dear old friend.”

“What if I said I did come here to find you?”

“Well, now this is interesting. What would Mr. Straight and Narrow Peter Parker want with me, his no-good thieving ex?”

“Don’t make me regret this Felicia…”

+

“The Black Cat? Of all the people you know, why did you ask her?”

Peter wasn’t expecting Johnny to get so worked up over his decision to talk to Felicia about the artifact. He knew of course that it wasn’t going to be a popular choice, but he thought Johnny would understand why he did it. But as he watched Johnny pace back and forth in his bedroom, he realized it might be a tougher sell than he first thought.

He was so anxious about telling Johnny about Felicia that he didn’t even wait to get out of his Spiderman suit before telling him. So now he was sat on Johnny’s bed in his Spiderman costume as Johnny vented out his frustration at Peter’s decision

“Look Johnny, I know Felicia’s reputation isn’t – “

“Captain America.” Johnny fired at Peter.

“Huh?” Peter gave Johnny a confused look.

“Captain America. Daredevil. Iron Man. Do I need to continue listing every superhero who would gladly do anything to help their friendly neighbourhood Spiderman?”

“Johnny, I couldn’t ask them for the same reason you don’t want to get Sue, Reed and Ben involved.”

Johnny huffed, frustrated that Peter was right. “But why Hardy? We can’t trust her with something like this!”

“Hey! Felicia’s a good friend of mine – “

“Do I need to make a list of all the friends you’ve made that turned evil too? Hell, you even dated this one, so maybe she’ll turn out super evil.”

“That’s not fair Johnny…” Peter trailed off; shoulders slumped.

“Look Pete,” Johnny softened his tone, realizing he might have pushed too hard. “I get that you trust her and that she’s your friend, but this isn’t MJ we’re talking about. This is Felicia Hardy, unrepentant criminal, master thief. Do you really trust her enough to have her around this mysterious artifact and not take off with it? I know you’re naïve Pete but c’mon.”

Peter took a deep breath and looked Johnny in the eyes. “I trust her with my life Johnny, I promise you that you can trust her too.”

Johnny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Well I guess I have no choice, seeing as you’ve already told her everything.”

Peter breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Johnny wasn’t getting even more angry at him.

“Just tell me one thing.”

“Anything Johnny.”

“Please tell me she doesn’t know your identity.” Peter had never seen Johnny this serious before. “I know you two were dating, but Spiderman has had flings with plenty of people without them seeing it’s you underneath the mask.”

Peter hesitated for a moment before answering. Johnny didn’t seem to notice, luckily for Peter his Spiderman mask hid any signs of indecision from him.

“No, she doesn’t know.”

With those four words Peter was consumed with guilt. He had never lied to Johnny before, so why did he feel the need to do so now?

“Good. I guess you’re not as naïve as I thought.” Johnny smiled for the first time since Peter told him about Felicia, and Peter’s guilt washed away. One small lie for Johnny’s happiness was worth it.

“So, I guess the Black Cat is part of our ‘Archaeology Extraordinaires’ crew, when should we call her over?”

Right on cue there was a loud knock on Johnny’s window.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to talk about a woman behind her back?” Felicia was perched on Johnny’s windowsill outside, a smug grin formed when she realized how much her sudden appearance shocked Johnny, a mix of surprise and contempt spreading over his face.

Johnny turned to Peter. “This was you, wasn’t it?” He stared a hole straight through Peter.

“I thought it’d take less time to convince you that including Felicia was the right idea…” Peter avoided Johnny’s gaze as he awkwardly moved to open up the window for Felicia to get in.

“I don’t know how you do it Spidey, those windowsills are killer on your feet.”

“With a bit more practice at it you soon won’t feel a thing Felicia.”

“Oh, so does that mean I’m going to be entering through Mr. Storms bedroom window more often now?” Felicia raised her eyebrows seductively at Johnny.

“No.” Johnny deadpanned.

“Calm down hothead, you’re not my type anyway.”

Johnny sent a frustrated look in Peter’s direction, only to find him barely holding in laughter at how uncomfortable Johnny was.

“So, why don’t we get to business,” Felicia continued. “Our mutual friend Spidey over here was telling me that you have an artifact you need checked out?”

Johnny glanced at his desk drawer where he hid the artifact, and was close to denying Felicia access to it when he was interrupted by his bedroom door swinging open.

“Johnny, what was with the loud banging earlier -” Sue stopped mid-sentence as she took in the scene in Johnny’s bedroom. Spiderman suited up on Johnny’s bed, Black Cat casually leaning against Johnny’s desk, and Johnny looking like he was about to flame-on and roast Black Cat any second now.

She took a deep breath before turning to look at Johnny. “Johnny, can I talk to you in the hall for a moment.”

“Sue, let me explain -”

“Now, Johnny.” And with that Sue turned around and left the room. Johnny gave Peter a look that he assumed meant ‘I’m sorry for not locking the door,’ and followed Sue out, closing his bedroom door behind him.

“Well shit,”

“You said it Pete.” Peter shot Felicia a worried look. “Oh right, sorry, _Spiderman_ , I forgot the little detail that apparently I don’t know who you are under that mask.”

“How long were you eavesdropping for?”

“Long enough to know Johnny really doesn’t like me for some reason.”

“You didn’t steal anything from him or the FF, did you?

“No, of course not. Maybe. I don’t think so. I usually don’t target superheroes, too much of a hassle when they try to track you down.”

“I’m sorry to ask you to do this Felicia, but can you please just play along?” Peter pleaded.

“Okay, I’ll play along. If only to see how long it takes Johnny to figure out that you lied to him.”

“He won’t figure it out if you don’t say anything.”

“Really? I mean I know he’s not the brightest, but I’m sure even he can figure out you didn’t leave your mask on when we took everything else off.” Felicia winked at Peter, before ducking as one of Johnny’s pillows came flying at her head.

“Also, thanks for sticking up for me. Not that many people would place their trust in me.”

Peter sighed, “Y’know more people would if you weren’t a professional thief, right?”

“I know, but a life without thieving isn’t a life worth living.”

Johnny’s bedroom door opened, and Sue strode in purposefully with Johnny walking slowly in behind her, head slightly lowered.

“Spiderman, Cat, say hi to the newest member of your team.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time posting my writing online, so please comment and let me know if it's something you'd be interested on keeping reading! :)


	2. The Cat's Specialty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter, Felicia, Johnny and Sue take their first steps to uncover the secrets of the artifact, with Felicia immediately proving her value to the team.

“You? You want in on this? Hah, don’t make me laugh.” Felicia walked cockily towards Sue, stopping just in front of her, hands resting on her hips. “What’s your real angle? There’s no way Miss Squeaky Clean has the stomach to get dirty enough to investigate this artifact the way we intend to.”

“Is that a challenge, Hardy?” Sue cocked an eyebrow, not backing down.

“No, a challenge would mean you had a chance of winning.”

“Bold words for a thief.”

“See, you don’t get it Storm. You work with us and the word ‘thief’ isn’t the insult you think it is anymore. There’s a reason Spidey came to me, and not to you.”

“Oh really?” Sue sharply turned her head towards Peter. “Why don’t you tell me that reason Spiderman.”

Felicia turned to look at him too. “Go on, tell her.”

Peter was frozen in place. He glanced at Johnny for help, but Johnny just smirked back at him and subtly shook his head, clearly enjoying Peter being in distress instead of himself for a change.

“Okay, Felicia, Sue, let’s all just calm down a little, we’re all on the same side for once.” Peter glanced nervously back and forth between the two women, both expecting him to take their side. “Let’s just call a truce for now, and once we’ve worked out what the deal is with this artifact, everyone can go back to hating each other. Okay?”

There was a brief tense moment where no one spoke.

“Deal.” Johnny broke the silence. Pete looked over at him, shocked, but grateful that he was the one to speak up. “I’m going to put my cards on the table. I don’t trust or like you Hardy. But Spiderman does, and I trust him. So, I’m willing to work with you this one time.”

“Johnny?” Sue looked just as surprised as Peter did.

“Sis, trust me when I say you don’t dislike Hardy more than I do. So, if I can put my feelings aside, so can you.”

Sue took a deep breath. “Okay. Johnny, Spiderman, you’re both right.”

Johnny, Sue and Peter then all looked expectantly at Felicia.

“What? You think I should say some sappy shit about teamwork now? No. You two,” Felicia pointed at Johnny and Sue, “are the ones who have a problem with me. So, let’s just be thankful that you two have grown up enough in the past minute to get on with business like adults.”

Johnny groaned and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “If I go grey from this Spidey, I’m coming after you.”

Peter sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Let’s just move on, shall we?”

Seeing no one object, Peter continued. “Johnny, grab the artifact out so Sue and Felicia can look at it then.” As soon as Peter saw Felicia’s smug grin spread across her face when Johnny reached for the artifact in his drawer, he realized he’d made a mistake.

“Where is it?” Johnny yelled, as he started frantically pulling out everything in the drawer, in a frantic attempt to find the artifact. A quiet laugh from across the room stopped Johnny in his tracks, and he turned around to see Felicia casually tossing the artifact from one hand to the other.

“Now how did you ever get your hands on this?” Felicia asked curiously, her eyes never leaving it as it moved from hand to hand.

“When did you grab that?” Johnny asked in disbelief.

“You don’t hide your stuff very well Johnny, when you and Sue left the room earlier it was pretty easy to swipe.”

“And you wonder why nobody trusts you.” Sue butted in, shaking her head disapprovingly.

“Actually, this is why you should trust me. Any other thief would have been out that window and half a mile away by now. I’d have a rock-solid excuse too after all the insults hurled my way. And you’d have been none the wiser. But yet here I am still.”

“I don’t think that’s going to make them feel better Felicia,” Peter said with a sigh.

“Whatever. You never answered my question Torch. How did you stumble across this beauty?”

“At the museum incident the other day. Got it from a bisected doom-bot that was crawling away from the wrecked museum. I assume it got it from there.”

“A doom-bot?” Sue’s eyes widened. “Johnny, why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

“It was need to know information Sue,” Johnny said, avoiding her gaze.

Peter noticed how focused Felicia was on the artifact that she was still tossing back and forth. “Felicia? Do you know something about It?

“Know something? I know everything there is to know about this. Which honestly isn’t very much actually.”

“Well what do you know?”

“I know that it was heavily guarded by top level security in that museum. The best of the best. Twenty-four hour rotating guard detail, locked vault, laser grid, the whole shebang.”

“Then how did the doom-bot get it?” Johnny wondered aloud.

“You.” Felicia answered. “A few flew past you and lured you to the museum. Emergency evacuation occurred when the building when up in flames, everyone including the guards would have had to leave. Allowing an unnoticed doom-bot to sneak in the back and attempt to bypass the other security measures.”

Johnny thought about it, and it started to make a lot of sense. When he thought back to how he found the doom-bot, the cut that bisected it was too clean for rubble or his blasts. It must have gotten caught in the laser grid trying to steal the artifact.

“Is there anything else?” Peter asked.

“Yeah,” Felicia continued. “It’s worth an insane amount of money to the right bidder. For some unknown reason a lot of the criminal underworld wants their hands on this, and they are willing to fork out whatever amount it takes to get it. Remember that woman I pointed out last night Spiderman?”

“No way.” Peter immediately put the connection together. “You were going to attempt to steal this, weren’t you? That woman was a receptionist at the museum Johnny and the doom-bots fought in, wasn’t she?”

“Hole in one Spidey.”

“Well thanks for the great information, but all that did was give us another reason not to trust you. We have zero leads to go on from that.” Sue looked unimpressed.

“That’s because I haven’t finished yet,” Felicia nonchalantly replied before continuing on as if Sue had never spoken, much to the bemusement of Johnny.

“I think she might start to grow on me,” Johnny whispered to Peter. Peter tried to hold in a laugh, but accidentally snorted from trying to hold it in, causing Johnny to burst out laughing. Sue death-stared the boys as they tried to regain their composure.

“Sorry,” Peter said in between fits of giggles. “Please, continue.”

Felicia smiled as she regained control of the discussion. “As valuable as this artifact is, there is one thing that would make it more valuable. It’s matching pair.”

“Pair?” Johnny asked surprised. “Why would the doom-bot only grab one if there were two of them?”

“It’s not a literal pair. There’s only one orb. However, there is a second artifact that goes hand-in-hand with the orb. An ancient tablet. It has the same smooth silver finishing, and is covered in glowing black lines.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that if we get our hands on this tablet, we might be able to understand both these artifacts better once they’re together,” Peter thought aloud. Felicia nodded in agreement.

“And let me guess,” Sue interjected. “You had a plan to steal the tablet as well.”

“Now you’re thinking like a thief,” Felicia smirked. “Would have been better to steal both of them and sell them together rather than individually.”

“Where is it? And how do we get it?” Johnny asked, excited by the thought of performing a heist to steal a priceless artifact.

“It was being housed in another museum downtown, but unfortunately someone else beat me to it. It was reported stolen five nights ago.”

“So, we’re screwed then?” Johnny sighed.

“Not necessarily. Remember what I said about the right bidder willing to pay a fortune? Well imagine a room full of these bidders, and then imagine how much higher the buying price would skyrocket when pitted against each other. Thieves rarely keep these things for themselves, why be hunted down by a criminal for it, when you can just sell it and force them to duke it out amongst themselves instead.”

“They’re going to sell it to the highest bidder?” Sue asked curiously.

“Yes, and lucky for you guys I know exactly when and where the bidding for this particular artifact is going to happen.”

“So, we are still going to be able to do a heist!” Johnny exclaimed, holding out his fist to Peter, which he reluctantly fist-bumped.

“Close Torch. Two of us get to do a heist.”

“Hey, no fair! I know you don’t like us, but that doesn’t mean you get to grab Spiderman and do all the fun things while Sue and I get stuck waiting for you.”

“Slow down there, Torch, who said anything about the two being me and Spidey?” Felicia asked innocently.

“What?” Johnny and Peter shouted at once. Sue raised her eyebrows at how shocked the two of them were.

“What is she talking about Sue?” Johnny asked, confusion etched into his face.

“Think about it, Johnny. We want to perform a heist to grab a priceless artifact from a black-market bidding room. The security is going to be too tight for any sneaky stuff, otherwise any criminal from Kingpin to the Green Goblin could swoop in and steal it.” Sue explained.

Johnny still looked confused.

Felicia laughed to herself before looking at Sue. “Maybe I was judging you too quickly Storm, you’ve seemed to catch on much quicker than those two have. If you wouldn’t mind, do please continue explaining to these morons.”

Sue rolled her eyes at Felicia comment and continued. “The only way to get access to the artifact is to walk through the front door like every other criminal who wants to bid. And there’s no way me and Spidey will be allowed anywhere near it. If they sense us anywhere within a mile of the place they’ll bail and hold it again at a later time in an even harder to find location. You and Hardy however…”

Sue looked over at Felicia for confirmation of her theory. Felicia nodded back, much to the horror of Johnny.

“What? Me and her?” Johnny pointed at Felicia in over the top shock. “We have to go in together?”

“Oh, calm down Torch, I promise we’ll have a fun time,” Felicia said playfully with a wink.

“But, why would I be allowed in there? I’m a superhero too, just like you and Spiderman?” Johnny asked Sue.

“Oh Johnny…” Sue looked sympathetically at him.

“Don’t worry your little head, Torch, I’ll explain it to you whilst we’re getting ready for the heist.” Felicia said. Johnny frowned in worry.

“And what do we do in the mean time?” Peter asked. He didn’t like the idea of just sitting idly by whilst Felicia and Johnny were going to put themselves in danger.

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Sue said, giving Peter a look that said _I’ll talk to you later_.

“Then we’re all agreed.” Felicia said, once again taking charge of the discussion. “I’ll take Torch undercover to steal the tablet, and you two… don’t get into too much trouble.”

“Hey! What makes you think we’d get into trouble?” Peter said indignantly.

“Because I’ve met you Spidey.”

Sue and Johnny both nodded along with Felicia, as the three of them all agreed on something for the first time that day.

+

“I thought we were going under cover?” Johnny asked as he straightened his tie in his bathroom mirror whilst Felicia was finishing getting ready.

“We are.” Felicia stepped into the bathroom, dressed in a black cocktail dress, which she specifically picked out to match Johnny’s sleek black suit. “Instead of looking like thieves, we’re going in looking like bidders.”

“Then why are you putting on your Black Cat mask?” Johnny curiously asked as Felicia slipped her mask onto her face.

“Because I have a reputation to uphold in the criminal underworld. It doesn’t matter what I’m wearing, but if I don’t have my mask on everyone in the room will take it as a sign of weakness. That I’ve dropped my guard enough that I didn’t think of a detail like putting on my mask.”

“Then why don’t I get one?”

“Because you’re Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. You don’t wear masks.” Johnny pouted upon hearing this reasoning. “Anyways, if you wore a mask it would diminish how much I can flaunt you to everyone.”

“Flaunt me?” Johnny asked, taken aback by Felicia’s statement.

“Yes Torch. I’m going to show you off as my new arm candy as a power statement. We talked about this, remember?”

Johnny recalled the conversation they had earlier that day, when Felicia told him just why he’d be welcome in a criminal black-market bidding room. He furrowed his brow thinking about it, and felt a bit queasy. “Yes, I remember.”

“Good.” Felicia turned Johnny around by his shoulders to face her, then dusted down his suit’s breast, making sure it was all perfect. “Now tell me again how we met.”

“We were both at the club you frequently visit for intel, and that I frequently visit for things… other than intel.” Johnny said reluctantly.

Felicia raised her eyebrows. “Go on.”

Johnny breathed a heavy sigh. “I didn’t recognise you out of your costume and mask. We got talking, got to know each other… _extremely_ well. And -”

“That’s when I pulled you into my life of crime.” Felicia finished. She looked him up and down one last time. “You’re ready.”

+

“So… why are we doing this again?” Peter had been to many different countries before, but never one ruled over by a man who he would describe as pretty much evil.

“Because clearly Victor has a stake in this. If he’s sending out his doom-bots again, there has to be a specific reason for it.” Sue answered, as they both sat down in the seats of a private jet that Victor had sent to take them to Latveria.

“So, we’re going over there to interrogate him?” Peter was skeptical of this idea. “Isn’t it very illegal to go to a foreign nation to punch some information out of their leader?”

Sue raised her eyebrow. “Because anything that’s happened regarding the artifacts up to this point could be considered legal?”

“Fair point.”

“Anyways we’re not going to interrogate him. We’re going to talk to him. As you can see from the fact that he sent us a private jet, he still owes me a favour or two.”

“So, this should be smooth then? We get in, talk to Doom, he spills all his evil secret plans, and then we get out before he kills us?” Peter gave Sue two thumbs up.

“If only it was that easy,” Sue sighed. “Despite what you think Peter, victor isn’t an evil man. He’s just a man who’s made terrible decisions that he thought were good.”

The two sat in silence for the majority of the rest of the flight, Sue was looking deep in thought, and Peter didn’t want to interrupt whatever she was thinking about. But he had one question that he didn’t think he could hold in any longer.

“Can I ask you something Sue?” Peter burst out, having held in the question for as long as he could.

“Anything, Peter.” Sue looked at Peter curiously, she was certain this conversation would go one of two directions, and she wasn’t sure which Peter was going to go down.

“I’m sorry if this question is out of line, or too personal but – “

“Pete,” Sue interrupted. “We’re practically family. Ask whatever you want.” _Ahh, so this is the one he chose._

“Something Felicia said back when you first joined up has stuck in my head.” Pete paused and looked down at his hands, trying to think of the right way to frame his question. Sue waited patiently for him to sort out his thoughts. “I’m not sure why you’re here.” Peter stated slowly, making sure he meant every word.

“What do you mean?” Sue was a little shocked by his statement. It definitely wasn’t the line of questioning she thought it was going to be. _I guess I was wrong._

“Johnny is doing this for the adventure. I’m here, well, I’m here mainly because Johnny convinced me too.” Peter was still looking down at his hands, and missed the slight smile that quickly appeared and then disappeared on Sue’s face when he mentioned his reason. “Felicia is here because she could never turn down an opportunity to both steal an ancient artifact, and have me help her do something illegal. But you? I just can’t figure it out. As you said, none of what we’re doing is very legal. You obviously don’t trust Felicia at all, and before you argue about that, I saw you place one of Reed’s trackers on her before she left with Johnny. And no, I didn’t tell her out of respect for you, I’ll take a tracker over an argument any day. And to top it off you didn’t even tell Reed or Ben what we are up to.”

“You still haven’t asked me a question yet Pete.” Sue said warmly with a smile. “You’ve made a lot of good points, but what is it you want to hear from me?”

Peter finally looked up at Sue and met her comforting eyes. “Why are you here Sue?”

“The same reason you are. For Johnny.” Peter went to ask her for more detail, but Sue deftly changed the topic. “Y’know, the thing I thought you were going to ask me was if Johnny was bi or not,” Sue said nonchalantly, enjoying the blush that spread over Peter’s face.

“What?” Peter spluttered out. “W-Why would I ask that?”

“It doesn’t matter, turns out I was wrong in thinking that yeah?” Sue had a cheeky grin that made Peter’s blush redden even further. “Although I guess if that question wasn’t asked, it’s also not going to be answered today.”

“O-Okay,” Peter managed to get out before the pilot came over the loudspeaker.

“Passengers please be seated with your seatbelts on, and prepare for landing.”

As the plane descended Peter put his mask on, contemplating on whether Sue was just messing with him or trying to give him a hint.

+

Felicia guided Johnny through the streets of New York, both of them looking extremely out of place as they negotiated the back alleys of downtown Manhattan whilst dressed to the nines. Felicia seemed to know the place like the back of her hand, whereas Johnny couldn’t have looked more lost.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Johnny asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Yes. Now shut up and act like you know where we’re going too, okay?”

“Yeah, sure, okay.” Johnny already knew Felicia saw him as incompetent, especially as they were in her area of expertise, so he figured he’d try his best to change her mind whilst they were working together.

A few more minutes of walking and they reached an alleyway which ran along the side of an abandoned greenhouse. Felicia grabbed Johnny’s hand and casually strolled up towards a door that appeared to be a side entrance into the greenhouse.

“A greenhouse? Shouldn’t the place be a little less conspicuous?” Johnny whispered as they approached.

“It may not seem like it, but a greenhouse is very easy to secure. Even though the glass is slightly transparent, the green tinge makes it almost impossible to see through in the middle of the night. They’ll have snipers with night vision goggles on all adjacent buildings, armed with rifles loaded with bullets that can easily keep momentum after breaking through glass, stopping anyone from doing anything shady inside the greenhouse. If the place was to get busted by say Spiderman, he’d have to break through the glass first, whilst dodging sniper fire and alerting everyone, or try and get through this door, which is always watched.” Felicia made no effort to quieten her voice.

“Shouldn’t you um, I dunno, whisper?” Johnny asked worryingly.

“Why? We have nothing to hide, so we shouldn’t make it look like we have something to hide. Should we?” Felicia emphasized those last words for Johnny to take the hint.

When they reached the door, Felicia reached out and knocked five times in quick succession on it. Two eyes appeared through a sliding flap in the door, analyzing both Felicia and Johnny.

“Password,” the person behind the door said monotonously.

“Fuck off with your password bullshit Dave,” Felicia said casually, freaking out Johnny. “Just let me in already, you’re going to give Johnny a heart attack.”

“Okay, okay,” the voice said before opening the door to reveal a huge beefy man standing behind it. Johnny reckoned he could squish him like a bug, just by hugging him. “but it’s so much fun watching new meat squirm when they realise they weren’t given any passwords.”

“I know Dave, but this isn’t just any fresh meat,” Felicia said as they both walked past him into the greenhouse. “He’s my fresh meat.”

“Gross,” Johnny muttered under his breath, earning him a death stare from Felicia when Dave wasn’t looking.

_Be careful,_ she mouthed at him, before turning back to Dave. “Just the usual, Dave?” she asked.

“Yep, just follow the lights to the back of the greenhouse, and try not to cause a fight like last time, okay?”

“No promises,” Felicia shot back as she grabbed Johnny by the arm and started walking to the back of the greenhouse, towards the noise of people.

“A fight?” Johnny questioned.

“A few guys didn’t realise it wasn’t a good idea to hit on me when I was working. Long story short, they got hospitalised, and I got 10 new contracts from people impressed with my fighting skills.”

As they got closer to the back, Johnny could see the amassing crowd of criminals and villains, and he was astonished at how many were there. They ranged from bottom of the food chain car-jackers to high end villains. Otto Octavius and Wilson Fisk stood out in particular, as nobody dared to stand within reach of either of them. One of the lower tier criminals who Johnny thought he recognised from an ATM hacking that was on the news recently ran up to him and Felicia excitedly.

“Felicia! I heard the rumours, but I didn’t think they were true!” He glanced back and forth between Johnny and Felicia, absolutely gob smacked.

“Johnny Storm, meet Joey Miller, one of my associates. Joey, this is Johnny Storm.”

“I’m such a huge fan Mr. Storm.” Joey gushed.

“Thanks, Joey.” Johnny flashed one of his winning smiles at him, a little more comfortable with this familiar encounter with a fan. “Which one of my outings impressed you the most? Wait, let me guess, when I helped take down Galactus right?”

Joey looked at Johnny confused, before bursting into a fit of laughter. “Ha! They never talked about how funny you were Mr. Storm. Good joke.” He then turned back to Felicia and said “I gotta get back to my boss, but I’ll chat to you later Felicia!” before running off back into the crowd.

“What did I say that was funny?” Johnny asked Felicia, extremely confused.

Felicia sighed before replying “Why would he be a fan of your heroic actions Torch?”

“Um… because they’re awesome?”

“He’s a criminal, in a room full of much worse criminals. If he even hinted at liking one of your heroic deeds he’d be gutted like a fish and no-one would bat an eye.”

“Then why did he say he was a fan?”

“Johnny, remember why I said you were allowed in here?”

“Oh, right.” Johnny’s shoulders slumped a little, face falling as he recalled their conversation.

“Stop that Johnny. Get your act together. You can mope once we have the tablet and are out of here, okay? Now let’s get into position.”

Johnny nodded and forced a cocky smile back onto his face. He stood up straight, took Felicia’s hand and walked through the crowd of people, towards the front of the crowd where a pedestal stood in front of a curtain. Resting on top of it was the tablet, held within a glass case. As they walked many eyes followed them, all whispering “I guess it’s true,” “The Black Cat and Human Torch?” “What they say about him… it can’t be…”

Johnny steeled his expression and kept walking, not paying attention to the murmurings of the crowd, much to Felicia’s approval. She gave a comforting squeeze of his hand; she knew it must be hard for him.

When they reached the front, they could see the tablet in all its glory. It had the same shiny silver sheen as the orb, but the glowing lines looked even duller than the ones on the orb, they didn’t quite glow the same way.

“That’s it?” Johnny asked.

“That’s it.” Felicia confirmed.

As they stood there waiting, they could see movement behind the curtain. A short, thin man holding a microphone came out from behind the curtain and stood next to the pedestal.

“Who’s he?” Johnny asked as discreetly as possible, not wanting to seem out of place.

“That’s the man who beat me to the tablet. His name’s Tim Groff, calls himself ‘The Shadow’. His gimmick is that he can steal anything and leave without a trace; or at least that’s what he’s convinced people to think about him. In reality he’s an amateur who somehow got lucky, and is now way in over his head.”

“Ahem.” Tim spoke into the mic. The crowd went completely silent. Johnny glanced at Felicia nervously.

“Welcome. We all know why we’re here. No need to beat around the bush.” He paused for a moment before scanning the crowd, eyes widening when they landed on the pair of people in front of him. “But before we get straight to business, I’d like to welcome the newest member of our illustrious underworld. The latest addition to the seedy underbelly lurking beneath our city.”

Felicia held her breath, this was exactly the situation she knew was likely to happen, but was hoping to avoid. She could feel Johnny’s hand starting to sweat. She looked up at Johnny, trying to will him to relax. Tim directed his gaze directly on Johnny.

“Welcome to our family of criminals, Johnny Storm. You’ve already proven to fit in quite well.”

+

“Spiderman, nice to finally meet the legendary superhero in the flesh.”

Peter was extremely nervous at the club when he was looking for Felicia by himself, but that had nothing on how he felt right now, as he was standing before Victor von Doom. Even with Sue Storm by his side, it didn’t feel right. To him, this was a guy he should have starting shooting webs at by now, not standing there exchanging polite introductions. Apparently, he had taken too long to reply, as Sue proceeded to discreetly elbow him in the ribs.

“Um, nice to meet you too, Mr.… uh, Doom?”

“Sue, you can relax, no need to push him into talking to the big scary guy in the metal mask. Although if he can talk to Iron Man, I don’t see why he can’t even say hello to me, especially after I so kindly flew him all the way here.” He said that last part pointedly at Peter rather than Sue, piling on the discomfort he was already feeling.

“Victor – “

Sue wanted to sway the focus away from Peter, but Doom wasn’t buying it. “Perhaps if I use your real name, you’ll feel more comfortable Spiderman? Why don’t you take off that mask so we can talk face to face like men?”

“Sure, if you take yours off first,” Peter shot back.

“Hmph, so you do have a spine after all. I guess you might be worth my time then. Sue, why are you here, and why did you bring him?”

“Why are you sending doom-bots after artifacts?” Sue asked.

“Straight to the point as usual Sue.” Doom waved his hands at the guards and they left the room, leaving just Peter, Sue and Doom. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret that not even my guards know about. A little while ago I sent a few dozen doom-bots out around the world, just to collect regular intel about various political and technological situations that I had a vested interest in. A few went to Paris to watch A.I technology progress. A few went to a Cairo as a fresh archaeological site was dug up. A few to Beijing as a senator was replaced by a young upstart politician. You get the general gist.”

Sue and Peter nodded along, following his every word.

“After a few weeks out surveying, I called them all back in to process the information gathered in more detail. The only thing is, none came back. Not a single one.”

“Then what happened to them?” Sue asked, not expecting a good answer.

“My working theory was that they were hijacked by someone with great technical prowess. And now that you’ve given me the information that they some were found going after an artifact that I definitely didn’t order them to get, I think it’s safe to assume my theory was right.”

“But who would do such a thing? And why go through all that effort?” Sue asked, trying to squeeze as much information out of Doom as possible.

“The answer to the first question is impossible to know at this point in time. However, for the second, I again have a few working theories,” Doom paused mid-thought before directing his next words at Peter. “What do you think Spiderman? Show me that keen intellect of yours I’ve heard so much about.”

Peter couldn’t tell if Doom was being sincere or mocking him, but figured answering was better than staying silent. “Well I guess they could have wanted to frame you? Implicate you in the hunt for the artifact whilst throwing the scent off them in the process?”

“Are you asking me or telling me.” Doom deadpanned.

“Um. Telling you.”

“Then you’d be telling me wrong information. If their goal was to simply implicate me, then they would have only needed a few of the doom-bots I sent out, not all of them.” Peter was taken aback, he thought he was on the money with his answer. “I’ll give you one more guess before I send you back to the jet.”

Peter thought hard for a few seconds, trying to think of another angle from which to look at the situation, when he suddenly had a lightbulb moment. “They were looking for information,” he stated confidently.

“Go on.”

“You’re doom-bots were out scouting for information, obviously there were each sent out to different targets, then once they got that information they’d go to their next, and so on and so on. One of them must have picked up some vital information that whoever hijacked them needed.”

“Then why go after them all, why not just the one with the information is it’s memory?”

“Because they had no way of knowing which one had the right information. Multiple doom-bots were sent to each location, and then mixed together and split apart for their next locations. Without knowledge of the exact routes you assigned them, no one would be able to know which bot had the right information. So they took them all, looked through their memories to find the right one, then conveniently ended up with a small robot army at their command.” Peter seemed pretty proud of his thinking.

Doom turned back to Sue, “I guess he’s not useless after all.”

“But what information would they be after?” Sue further questioned. “You said you didn’t send any of the bots specifically after the artifact.”

“I had a few in New York trailing a thief called The Shadow. A slimy little fellow who’s recently been going after bigger targets than someone with his lack of skill should. I wanted to know why he was stepping up his game, and exactly what he was after. Three guesses at what he had just stolen, and also what he was going to attempt to steal next.”

“So, whoever hijacked the bots got information on this thief, what he stole and his future plans…” Sue wondered aloud. “Oh no… Johnny.”

“What about Johnny?” Peter asked worryingly, concerned by Sue’s tone of voice.

“Spiderman… whoever hijacked the doom-bots obviously wants both artifacts, and now we know that they have both the information to know exactly what The Shadow intends to do with the one he managed to steal, and has a small army of doom-bots to help him interrupt said plan.”

It all suddenly clicked for Peter. “The black-market auction… we need to warn Johnny and Felicia!”

“Sounds like you two need to get going. Go on, I’ll notify the pilot to get ready for take-off.” Doom said, taking note of everything the two were saying.

“Thank-you Victor,” Sue shouted behind her as she and Spiderman started running back to the jet.

As soon as they were out of earshot Victor started to form a plan in his head. Sue and Spiderman had unwittingly given him a lot of new information to work with.

“So first we have this mystery player in the hijacker. And now we have this mismatched team of Spiderman, the Storm siblings, and Felicia Hardy joining the fray. Add to that every criminal who wants their hands on these artifacts and things just got really interesting.”

+

Felicia could feel Johnny’s temperature starting to rise as she still held his hand, slowly getting warmer and warmer as Tim continued to speak.

“I mean, most criminals start off small, but oh no, not Johnny Storm. You burned an entire museum down to the ground, all to ensure that the Black Cat could steal an artifact.” The Shadow turned to look at Felicia next to Johnny. “Congratulations on getting to it before me, by the way. Nothing better than good competition.”

Felicia squeezed Johnny’s hand tighter, trying to get across just how much he needed to keep his cool. The crowd of criminals around them grew restless, not approving of the long talk The Shadow was giving, they expected a quick bid so they could all leave whilst it was still pitch-black outside.

“But I guess we can hardly call this your first crime, right Storm? Hell, just in the last month you’ve destroyed three buildings and harmed quite a lot of civilians. If it wasn’t for that idiot Spiderman trying to stop you every time, I could only imagine what destruction you could’ve caused.”

Felicia tried to get a read on Johnny, but he was stone faced, the only thing giving away his emotions was the steady rise of heat emanating from his body. At the moment it was minimal enough that only Felicia could feel it, but if he got much hotter, more people would start to notice.

“The media’s done you a solid, spinning that tale of you and Spiderman partnering up to fight crime, but now all of us in this room know the truth. The Cat’s turned you into a nice hardened criminal. Say, why don’t the three of us become business partners, Spiderman’s causing you a bit of grief… how about us three put him in the ground for good?”

That comment enraged Johnny, his hand suddenly got so hot that Felicia had to let go or risk getting burnt. Felicia tensed up, getting ready for the fight of her life as she expected Johnny to burst into flames at any second.

As Johnny flamed on ferociously and soared into the air, glass from windows surrounding the greenhouse started to shatter as 12 doom-bots poured in from the sides and rushed the podium. Johnny smashed headlong into the closest to him, tearing it into shreds of melted metal. All of the snipers who could have taken the doom-bots out were blinded by looking at Johnny’s flame through their night vision goggles.

The auction turned into chaos as the smaller criminals tried to run away, not wanting to risk their life for something they knew their higher up bosses wouldn’t win anyway. Whereas the criminals who know they were in with a chance started to join Johnny in taking out the doom-bots. Otto Octavius grabbed two doom-bots in his metal claws and pull them apart, tossing them carelessly towards the stage, shattering the glass encasing the tablet.

Felicia noticed the tablet skidding to a halt near the curtain. She quickly lured the doom-bot she was fighting towards the curtain and deftly swiped it off the ground as she squatted down to deliver a strong kick to the bot’s legs, taking them out from under it. Hidden as her squatting position had her crouched behind the pedestal out of sight, she attached the tablet to a strong magnet hidden on her upper thigh under her dress before jumping back out and rejoining the fray, not wanting to be on the ground too long and look suspicious.

After a few more minutes of fighting all of the doom-bots were destroyed, with all of the criminals dusting themselves off before settling back down ready for the auction to start again. This wasn’t the first time a fight had broken out during one of these, and it wouldn’t be the last, so they all knew it was easier to just get back to business.

The Shadow snuck back out from behind the curtain where he was hiding. He ran up to Johnny who was now extinguished, having taken all his anger out on the doom-bots.

“Thank-you so much Storm!” he exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for you, that first doom-bot would have killed me! It was making a beeline straight for me until you blocked it off!”

Johnny looked at him, disgusted, before walking back to where Felicia was standing. The Shadow followed behind him, uncertain why Johnny was giving him the cold shoulder. Felicia walked towards him and stopped him in his tracks.

“Let me explain something to you Tim,” she glared at him, along with the rest of the high-level criminals that he now found himself amongst. “You host this black-market auction, don’t provide enough security to deal with a few doom-bots, then hide behind a curtain whilst we take care of the problem for you. I think it should be obvious why everyone in this room would be disgusted by you. Now get your ass back up to that pedestal and sell the fucking tablet like you should’ve done 20 minutes ago before the doom-bots even showed up.”

Tim visibly gulped as he looked around at the hardened criminals who remained in the greenhouse, who all seemed to agree with Felicia’s statement, before running back up to the pedestal to begin the auction, only to be horrified by the fact that the tablet was missing.

“I’m sorry to announce this but…” Tim hesitated before continuing, hoping he wouldn’t be killed for this. “But it seems as if the tablet was stolen during the commotion earlier,” he quickly finished.

“Fucking amateur.” Felicia spat out before turning on her heels and walking towards the side door where Dave was still standing guard. “C’mon Johnny, looks like we have to go find whichever bastard broke the rules of the auction and stole the tablet. Oh, and,” she turned back and looked directly at Tim. “Leave a present for our host, will you?”

As Johnny followed behind her, he turned around and happily aimed a fireball at Tim’s shocked face, who quickly ducked it before turning to face the rest of the angry criminals left standing before him. The last thing he saw was Johnny Storm giving him the finger before the Kingpin walked up and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

As they left, Felicia slipped Dave a tip at the door. “Sorry you were hired a by a fucking idiot Dave.”

“It happens Felicia, see you and your man next time.”

As soon as they were a safe distance away from the greenhouse, Johnny let out a huge sigh of relief, before collapsing against the nearest wall, feeling both mentally and physically exhausted. “Hardy, let’s never do that again.”

Felicia leaned her back against the wall next to him. “Never say never Storm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and love last chapter guys! It really inspired me to get cracking on this chapter, which turned out much longer than I expected it to be.


	3. Flame Off, Force-Field On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After successful missions to kick-start their research into the artifacts, seeds of mistrust and doubt grow in some of the team's minds.

“You don’t think I’m a criminal, do you?”

Johnny stared down at his slice of pizza that had started to go cold. Him and Felicia were sitting outside of a 24/7 pizza place that Peter had once shown him during a night out patrolling. The owner had given them an odd look, as they were both still all dressed up from the greenhouse auction heist they had just pulled off. Felicia had complained about being hungry, and Johnny decided he needed a couple of beers after all that had just happened, so he knew just where to take her.

“You’re not actually taking what any of those idiots back there said seriously, are you Storm?” Felicia asked through a mouthful of pizza. Johnny shrugged his shoulders, sipping his third can of beer.

“They weren’t wrong, I did do all of that, destroyed buildings, burnt down an entire museum, nearly hurt a hell of a lot of people.”

“Storm…” Felicia could see the confusion and doubt heavily set up Johnny’s features. “Look… Johnny, I have both seen and worked with many criminals and villains in my life. Hell, you’d probably classify me as one of them too. So, trust me when I say you’re definitely not one of them… one of us.”

Johnny glanced up at Felicia, still looking quite unsure of himself. “If you need any more convincing, just ask yourself why would Spiderman hang out with you so much if you were a criminal.”

“He hangs out with you,” Johnny shot back, the words coming out more harshly than he intended.

“The only reason he still gives me the time of day is because he thinks I’m salvageable. That one day I’ll throw away my thieving ways and live an honest life.” That earned a small chuckle from Johnny. “Exactly, not very likely. But he’s always been one for optimism.”

“That’s our Spidey,” Johnny sighed, he thought back to all the times Peter had played damage control for him. Saving innocent people that he placed in danger, dealing with emergency services while he flew off avoiding any consequences. And that conversation they had the other night, where Peter had looked so disappointed in him, before asking him to try to be more careful, to be better. Johnny couldn’t help but wonder if Peter saw him the same way that Peter saw Hardy, as someone who does bad things who he thinks he can save.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes, just enjoying their slightly cold pizza and beer together. When Johnny looked up at Felicia, he noticed her looking wistfully into the distance, as if recalling memories from her past. Johnny opened his mouth to ask her something, but hesitated, unsure of his motivation behind the question. The failed attempt however, was not lost on Felicia.

“Something on your mind Storm?”

“Um… well…”

“C’mon Storm, you’re supposed to be the confident one of the Fantastic Four, I’m sure you can handle saying whatever it is you’re thinking.”

“Well you and – “ Johnny had to mentally stop himself from saying Peter. “You and Spiderman, it’s clear you two are close, and are definitely talking again. And he had the complete trust in you to help us with the artifact…”

Felicia could sense where Johnny’s thought process was heading, but instead of butting in like she normally would, decided she’d let him finish. “Spiderman, he, well, we talk about everything with each other. We don’t really have secrets, not because of some death promise when we were kids or some other bullshit, but just because we always feel like talking to each other about stuff. Big important stuff, little unimportant stuff, and all the stuff in between. But, for some reason he’ll never talk to me about one certain aspect of his life anymore. Even though I’ve definitely talked his ear off about that aspect of my life. I can think of so many times he’s just sat there and listened to me go on and on about this girl or that girl, but whenever I’ve spun the questions back over to him, it’s just a lot of joking and changing of the topic.”

Johnny went silent for a few seconds as he tried to get his thoughts cohesive after such a rough night.

“I guess what I’m trying to get at is,” he continued, “Are… are you and Spidey back together? Is that why he won’t talk to me about this stuff anymore?”

Felicia was surprised by how genuinely upset Johnny sounded by that idea. She decided to keep a poker face and thought carefully about her answer to what Johnny had both just told and asked her. She wondered why Peter would suddenly stop talking about his love life with his best friend. She calculatedly looked Johnny up and down and it suddenly hit her. Johnny’s styled blonde hair, his strong jawline, his strong toned build obvious in the tailored suit he was wearing. It suddenly made a lot of sense to her why Peter would want to go home with someone like Greg, the good-looking but horrible bartender from the club.

“Why do you want to know?” She asked slowly and carefully, studying Johnny’s body language to try and get more of a read on where Johnny was coming from.

“Why do I want to know?” Johnny’s head lowered. “Because he’s my best friend, and I care about his happiness so, so much… and… and if he felt like he had to hide something from me because he thought I would judge him, or not support him, or not be there for him… then I don’t know. I guess I’d be a pretty shitty best friend.” Johnny frowned, before downing the rest of his beer.

“Okay, I think that’s enough beer for tonight,” Felicia said softly as she pulled the beer can away from Johnny.

“If you think I’m only saying this because you think I’m not sober, then you’re wrong. I can boil away all the alcohol in my blood stream in a second.” Johnny snapped his fingers. “Done. Fully sober. Now please answer my question…”

“Johnny… look at me.” Johnny looked up from his pizza to meet Felicia’s sympathetic gaze. “Maybe you should give him a call and talk to him about it.”

Johnny sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to get any direct answers from Felicia, and that she was probably right about needing to talk to Peter about this. He pulled out his phone for the first time that night only to find to his surprise a dozen missed phone calls from both Peter and Sue.

“Hey Hardy, check your phone.” Felicia pulled hers out to find many missed calls from Peter too.

“Call him now Storm! They might be in danger!”

Johnny called Peter as fast as he could, with Peter picking up almost straight away. Johnny put Peter on speaker so Felicia could hear too.

_“Johnny! Are you and Felicia okay? Thank god you called me back, we have reason to believe that whoever is behind the doom-bots will try and make a move at the auction tonight!”_ They could both also hear Sue in the background frantically yelling at Peter to ask if they were hurt or in danger or both.

Johnny and Felicia just looked at each other, and the pure exhaustion from the night they had both been through seemed to catch up with them and they both just burst out laughing.

_“Johnny? Felicia? Why are you laughing?”_ Johnny and Felicia’s laughter grew even louder.

“You’re a little behind Spidey,” Felicia said in between bouts of laughter.

_“Behind? Wait, what happened?”_

“We’ll tell you all about it when we’re all back at the Baxter Building and have slept for at least two days straight.”

Their laughter continued for quite a while as Peter and Sue continued to fire a mixture of worried and confused questions at them.

+

Peter couldn’t help but think that it was a miracle. It was the afternoon after Johnny and Felicia’s heist, and Johnny was recounting the night’s adventure to Sue and Peter in his bedroom. The fact that not only did Johnny and Felicia successfully steal the tablet, but they also somehow got along enough to not kill each other in the process. Peter couldn’t help but be impressed.

“You’re exaggerating Johnny, there’s no way there was that many villains there.” Sue said in disbelief.

“Nope, no exaggerations today sis, Hardy can back up my story when we see her tomorrow.”

“Where actually is Felicia?” Peter chimed in; he was hoping to make sure she came out unscathed from last night as well.

“She said something about needing to make sure that the tablet was the real deal, and wasn’t fake or damaged. But she’ll be here tomorrow with the tablet as planned.” Johnny seemed pretty confident in this statement; however, Sue couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious.

“And just how is she verifying if the tablet’s real?” Sue probed.

“She said she had a contact who knows about this sort of stuff, it’s cool.”

Sue raised her eyebrow at Johnny’s sudden trust of Felicia, but decided not to openly question it at that moment, especially when she knew Peter would immediately jump in to try and show Felicia off in the best light possible.

“Anyways, enough about my adventure, what did you guys get up to whilst Hardy and I were planning and executing the heist of the century?” Johnny asked eagerly, expecting an answer of equal or greater excitement.

“Well -” Peter started to answer, but Sue interrupted before he could say anything else.

“Nothing particularly exciting, tried to do some research into the orb but couldn’t find anything.” Sue shrugged nonchalantly, before quickly shooting a look at Peter to be quiet. Peter gave her a confused look back, before quickly nodding an okay at her.

Johnny’s expression sank a little, clearly disappointed with her answer. He wasn’t ready to give in yet though.

“Then how did you guys know about the doom-bots?” he asked, hoping for a shred of excitement to be uncovered.

Sue panicked a little, she wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question without telling Johnny about their visit to Latveria.

“Y’know we’re kinda smart Johnny.” Peter piped in with a chuckle. “We realized that whoever sent the doom-bots to the museum obviously would want the tablet as well as the orb, so as we were researching that yesterday it clicked that whoever it is might have been planning to interrupt the auction.” Sue threw Peter a thankful smile.

“Yeah I guess that makes sense…” Johnny again seemed fairly disappointed by the lack of excitement in the story. “Although I don’t know why you keep saying ‘whoever sent the doom-bots’ when it’s obviously Doom. You guys know you can just say his name right, he’s not Voldemort.”

Sue and Peter paused for a moment, not knowing what to say. Luckily for them Johnny didn’t seem to notice.

“Well on that note,” Sue said, wanting to change the topic. “I gotta head off and grab some groceries, unfortunately the world doesn’t stop for our research into these artifacts. Before I go though, I should show you a new invention Reed is working on Pete.”

“Uh, yeah sure thing.” Peter said hesitantly, before giving a small wave to Johnny and following Sue out of his room. They walked down the hall and Peter turned to go towards Reeds lab when Sue stopped him in his tracks.

“Thanks for following my lead back there, Peter.”

“No worries Sue. Can I ask why you don’t want Johnny to know we went to talk to Doom?”

Sue leaned her back against the closest wall and sighed. “If he knew I had talked to Victor and didn’t try to kill him for everything he’s done to our family, I don’t think he’d ever forgive me for it. Despite how it seems at times, Johnny’s a smart kid. But he’s much too emotional. As you saw, having Victor around can be useful, but Johnny would never be able to see that, even if Victor saved a million babies from being thrown in a volcano.”

Peter could see how exhausted Sue looked from keeping this from Johnny, and decided he had to help her out. “Don’t worry Sue, that trip will stay between us.”

Sue smiled up at Peter and pulled him in for a hug. “Thanks Pete. Alright, now I actually do have to go grab some groceries and run some other errands, I’ll see you two boys tomorrow okay?”

Peter smiled and waved Sue off as she left, before slowly making his way back to Johnny’s room. He opened the bedroom door to find Johnny lying down on his bed, throwing a tennis ball up and down in the air.

“What new, crazy experiment has Reed cooked up that Sue had to show you?” Johnny asked, not taking his eyes off the ball.

“Oh, nothing too life changing,” Peter felt a twinge of guilt as he lied to Johnny. “It’s all still theory and vague plans, so who knows if Reed will follow through on it or ditch it for his next idea.”

“Fair enough, sounds like the usual Reed stuff then.” Peter couldn’t believe that Johnny didn’t bother to ask any more questions about it. He guessed it must just be so common place for Johnny to have Reed running around doing experiments all the time that it just doesn’t interest him that much anymore.

Johnny looked over at Peter, shuffled over on his bed to make some room, then motioned for Peter to come lie down next to him. Peter jumped onto the bed next to Johnny, deliberately bumping into him, causing Johnny to miss catching the ball he just tossed, it instead bounced off his stomach and onto the floor. Johnny reached out his hand in a weak attempt to grab the ball off the floor, but gave up and just laid there with Peter, enjoying a bit of time to relax with his best mate after an insane couple of days.

Peter was still feeling a bit guilty for lying to Johnny earlier, so he nervously tried to start up a new conversation. “So, it sounds like you and Felicia are getting on well after last night?”

“Yeah, she’s not as horrible as I thought she was.” Johnny paused for a second. “I’m sorry Pete, but I’m still not sure if I can trust her though. Especially after I saw first-hand just how well she can act. She played every single one of those villains for a fool. I just hope you have the right instincts here Pete, otherwise she could very well be doing the same to us.”

“That’s fair I guess.” Johnny could hear Peter’s disappointment. “It would be pretty foolish of me to expect you two to be best buds after one night of partnering together.”

Johnny paused, pondering whether or not he should ask Peter what he asked Felicia last night. Felicia certainly seemed to think he should. Maybe that in and of itself was an answer to his question. Why would Felicia want him to ask Peter if they were together, if the answer wasn’t yes? If the answer was no, wouldn’t Felicia just straight up deny it? Johnny decided he’d approach the topic from a more subtle angle, try and prod any information out of Peter.

“So… after the mission last night, Felicia and I had a bit of a chat, and it sounds like you two are pretty close.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Peter said with a chuckle. “We’ve known each other for years. I know you and Sue have legitimate reasons to not trust her, no matter how much I argue with her she won’t even consider giving up her life as a thief… but I honestly can’t think of a world without her.”

Johnny frowned, it seemed as if he had his answer. “Y’know you can tell me anything, right Pete?” Johnny asked softly, looking away from Peter. “There’s absolutely nothing you could tell me that’d make me upset, or angry, and I’d always have your back.”

“I know that Johnny,” Peter laughed, confused as to why Johnny was bringing that up now. “Just like I said I’d always have yours, no matter how both figuratively and literally hot headed you are.”

“Good.” Johnny smiled at Peter.

“Anyways, speaking of Felicia, and us telling each other things,” Peter started to say. Johnny perked up, thinking that Peter was finally going to trust him enough to tell him about Felicia. “She texted me earlier today and told me you had something to ask me.” Johnny’s smiled dropped for a split second before forcing it back before Peter could notice. ‘ _I guess he doesn’t actually trust me after all,’_ Johnny thought, his heart shattering at the thought of his best friend not trusting him. He closed his eyes and quietly took a deep breath to calm himself.

“It was nothing really,” Johnny said, reopening his eyes with another forced smile. “Hardy just wanted me to ask you if you had any more awesome hidden pizza places.”

“Oh! Of course, I do! Next time we’re out patrolling I’ll show you a few new ones I’ve discovered.” Peter beamed at Johnny. Peter thought he saw Johnny’s smile fade just a little bit, but he figured it was just due to how tired he was from last night’s heist with Felicia.

Johnny dropped the conversation after that, and he and Peter both laid there in silence. A comfortable, relaxed silence for Peter, but a sad, tense silence for Johnny. After a few minutes, the comfort of his bed combined with the lack of sleep from last night caused Johnny to start to drift off.

Peter watched Johnny as he fell asleep next to him, further cementing his belief that Johnny’s fading smile from earlier was due to fatigue rather than anything else. Once he was certain that Johnny was fast asleep, he moved to get up and let Johnny rest, but stopped when Johnny’s arm moved, draping itself over Peter’s chest. Johnny pulled himself closer in his sleep, snuggling into Peter’s side.

Peter’s breath hitched. He could feel the warmth that emanated from Johnny’s body as it was pressed against him. Peter knew he should get up, move, do anything but stay in this situation. But he couldn’t will himself to do it. Peter couldn’t get enough of Johnny’s familiar warmth; it had become comforting to him and he wanted to stay in it for as long as possible.

Johnny moved a little again, Peter didn’t realise he was such a restless sleeper. But this time Peter could feel Johnny’s muscled abs and chest press against his side, his strong arm gripping him a little tighter as he snuggled even further into Peter’s side. Peter gulped as his mind went to much different places than just comfort.

_‘Yep, definitely need to get up now.’_ Peter thought. ‘ _He’s your best friend Peter, nothing else.’_ He closed his eyes and sighed, before looking at Johnny’s sleeping face which was now pressed up against his shoulder. _‘Okay, I can’t move and wake him up now, he needs his rest after last night.’_ Peter decided it was best for Johnny to stay where he was. _‘Yep… totally doing this just for Johnny…’_ he thought as he felt Johnny’s abs again as he shifted a little.

Peter closed his eyes and figured if he was going to be stuck here, he may as well try and get some sleep too. As he felt Johnny’s warmth surround him, he didn’t think it would take long for him to follow Johnny’s lead, and soon found himself drifting off to sleep.

+

Sue loved having invisibility as a super power. It made many things so much easier. Avoiding crowds, avoiding crazed fans, avoiding police whenever Johnny set something on fire. So really just for whenever she wanted to avoid people, which in her line of work was pretty often. And as she trailed Felicia Hardy down the backstreets of Manhattan, she was extremely glad she could turn invisible.

As soon as Johnny mentioned Felicia having a contact to talk to about the artifacts, she became extremely suspicious. She made a few house calls to her friends in the area, and soon enough Matt Murdock was able to point her in the right direction. Matt had heard rumours both on the street and in the courtroom from criminal defense lawyers that Hardy might have had a new connection in downtown Manhattan. As Hardy was extremely hard to tail however, he had no further information for Sue, but it was enough for her to go on.

She went to the abandoned greenhouse that Johnny mentioned being in downtown Manhattan to find Hardy poking around in the rubble whilst avoiding the detectives and police who were investigating what had happened. Apparently, someone in the neighbourhood heard the fight with the doom-bots and called the police. Sue eavesdropped on one of the officer’s conversations. All they found when they arrived was the thief called ‘The Shadow’ that Victor had mentioned to her and Peter, tied up to a chair, unconscious.

Sue moved in closer to Felicia, hoping to see what she was doing. As Felicia looked through the rubble, she seemed to find the thing she was looking for, as she suddenly turned tail and swiftly left the greenhouse, going back into the maze of back alleys. Sue struggled to keep up, as she was quickly finding out just how well Hardy knew these streets. Just as Sue thought she’d lose her, Felicia ducked into a seemingly empty warehouse.

Sue quietly followed her inside, and saw a door to a side room close. As she snuck closer to the door, she could hear Felicia talking, then pausing, then continuing to talk. Sue figured she must be talking on the phone to someone as she couldn’t hear anyone responding. As she reached the door, she could make out exactly what Felicia was saying.

“Yes, you need to come here ASAP.”

“Yes, cash only.”

“Yes, both of them.”

Sue had decided she had heard enough and kicked the door in, before throwing up a forcefield around her and Felicia, blocking off any escape routes.

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted Hardy!” Sue narrowed her eyes at Felicia, as Felicia just grinned smugly before bending down and sliding the phone she was using across the ground to Sue.

“Go on.” Felicia gestured for Sue to pick up the phone. Sue hesitantly picked up the phone, wanting to know who Felicia was trying to sell the artifacts to. As she put the phone to her ear, she unexpectedly heard the voice of a teenager talking to her.

“Hello? Are you still there, Miss? I just need to confirm for our delivery driver that you want two pepperoni pizzas delivered to the Baxter Building ASAP, and that you were wanting to pay in cash when we arrived, yes?” Sue sighed; she had been played.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m going to have to cancel the order. Bye,” Sue hung up on him before he could reply. She looked over at Felicia to see her now sitting cross-legged on the ground, admiring a small, silver, triangular shard that was covered in black glowing lines. Sue slid the phone back to Felicia. It skidded to a halt in front of her, but Felicia never took her eyes off the shard. “What was all that about?”

“Y’know you really shouldn’t have cancelled that order. Johnny showed me that pizza place last night, and it’s pretty incredible.” Felicia glanced around at the forcefield that still encased her and Sue. “Oh, you still have that up? You can probably give it a rest now.” She smirked at Sue before focusing her attention back onto the shard.

“What was the point of you doing all of this?” Sue said in frustration as she let the forcefield go.

“The point of me doing what? Collecting this shard from the greenhouse? Or getting you to follow me to this warehouse?” Felicia asked innocently, as Sue looked shocked. “What? Did you seriously think I wouldn’t notice you trailing me? Do you think the criminal world doesn’t take notice when The Invisible Woman knocks on top lawyer Matt Murdock’s door? That spreads like wildfire. And just because you’re invisible, it doesn’t mean you don’t make noise. One of the police officers at the greenhouse even thought it was haunted after hearing you crunch when walking over all the broken glass.” Sue remained silent, trying to regather her composure. “Did you really think if Matt Murdock, Daredevil himself, couldn’t track me, that you could?”

“Fine, okay you caught me. Now tell me what the hell you’re doing.” Sue was losing patience with Felicia’s game.

“Well if you must know before I tell Johnny and Spiderman tomorrow when we were scheduled to meet up, I guess I can tell you now. Catch.” Felicia tossed Sue the shard, with she caught handily. “That shard is a piece of the puzzle to figure out the artifacts. My contact said the tablet should have come with the shard attached, but it looks like it snapped off when good ol’ Otto Octavius threw a doom-bot into its display. And before you ask, no I won’t tell you who my contact is.”

“But-“ Sue went to interrupt.

“No buts. As I told Johnny last night, I have a reputation to uphold in the criminal underworld of New York, and outing my contacts would not be very fitting of me, now would it?”

“Whatever,” Sue realized she wouldn’t win this battle over her Felicia’s contact and decided to move on. “Then why play this game of luring me here to this warehouse?”

“I knew you didn’t trust me, but I didn’t realise just how much you didn’t. When I figured you were following me, I decided to test just how far you’d go in your effort to prove how untrustworthy I am. Turns out you’d go pretty far. And here I thought we were all being professional and working nicely together.” Felicia spat out that last sentence.

“Look, Hardy- “

“Stop. We promised Spiderman that we’d work together despite not liking each other, but right now it’s clear to me that you’re just not capable of that. Because of you I’m now in two minds about whether or not to just steal this shard,” Felicia popped up from her seated position and kicked the shard out of Sue’s hand, snatching it out of the air in one fluid motion. “Sell it to the first criminal I see and be done with it.”

Sue raised her hands ready for a fight. “You won’t if I have anything to say about it.”

“Oh, for fucks sake Storm, calm down.” Felicia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “I’m not actually going to sell it. Even someone like me has principles, no matter how morally bankrupt you think I am.”

“And what makes you think I would believe you?”

“Because when I make Spiderman a promise, I stick to it. If I’m not at our meeting tomorrow, feel free to call the Avengers and hunt me down. If anything is clear from what you’ve done today, it’s that you’re definitely not capable of tracking me down on your own.”

Before Sue could say anything back, Felicia swiftly ran over and jumped out of a nearby open window, catching Sue by surprise, who didn’t react quickly enough to stop her. By the time Sue had ran over to the window, any trace of Hardy was long gone.

“Fuck…” Sue swore under her breath, knowing how badly she had messed up. _‘I guess being reckless isn’t just a Johnny thing… it’s a Storm thing.’_

+

Sue returned to the Baxter Building after grabbing a few groceries on the way, like she said she was going to. However, when she walked through the door, she felt like she needed to go confess to Johnny and Peter what had just gone down with Felicia.

As she walked down the hallway towards Johnny’s bedroom, where she assumed they would both still be, she could hear soft snoring coming from the room. She quietly tip-toed up to the door, and peeked in, to see Johnny and Peter both fast asleep on top of Johnny’s bed. Johnny was still snuggled into Peter’s side and both of them looked to be sleeping pretty peacefully.

Sue smiled to herself _. ‘At least one thing today is going well,’_ she thought to herself. As she walked away from Johnny’s room, she decided to follow the boys’ lead and try to sleep off everything that had just happened, hoping that tomorrow’s meeting with Felicia would go more smoothly than she was anticipating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to anyone who's continued to read this!! :)
> 
> In this chapter there was quite a lot of dedicated focus on establishing the mindset of each member of the team and how they feel about the other members, and some key plot set up for later in the story. Next chapter should have a better blend of moving the plot forward and character building moments!


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